Media & Publications

The Thinker and the Previous Thought

There’s an old axiom: “Wherever there is a thing, there must have been a preceding thought. And where there is a thought, there must have been a thinker.”

Take a mental walk with me outside. I want us to look at some cars together. If possible, let’s find a new one. While you’re standing there admiring the beauty of that sparkling new automobile, imagine I whisper to you, “You know, some folks believe this car is a result of someone’s design, but I know differently. Let me tell you what really happened.”

Many, many centuries ago, all this iron, glass, rubber, plastic, fabric, leather, and wires came up out of the ground. Furthermore, each substance fashioned itself into various shapes and sizes, and holes evolved at just the right places, and the upholstery began to weave itself together. After awhile threads appeared on bolts and nuts and—amazing as it may seen—each bolt found nuts with matching threads. And gradually everything sort of screwed up tightly in place. A little later correctly shaped glass glued itself in the right place. And you see these tires? They became round over the years. And they found themselves the right-sized metal wheels. And they sort of popped on. They also filled themselves with air. And the thing began to roll down the street.

And one day, many, many years ago—centuries really—some people were walking along and they found this vehicle sitting under a tree. And one of them looked at it and thought, “How amazing, I think we should call it ‘automobile.’ But there’s more! These little automobiles have an amazing way of multiplying themselves year after year, even changing ever so slightly to meet the demands of the public. Actually, that process is called ‘automutation.’”

Preposterous, right?

Yet far more complex than a man-made automobile is the eye that can see it. In Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, Dr. Paul Brand fascinates his readers by exploring the Creator’s majesty as displayed in the human body. Take the complexity of sight. A human eye contains 107 million cells, each sending a simultaneous message to the brain, which can interpret and organize these messages into an image we can recognize. Dr. Brand’s lifelong pursuit to understand leprosy and help those affected by it led him to marvel at and then write about the intricate care and design with which we were crafted. No one can read his books and not be filled with awe.

Now, tell me, compared with the faith required to believe in the random creation of a less complex thing, is it really so hard to believe that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:27)?